


you are the bearer of unconditional things

by nerdyscully (dalecooperscoffee)



Category: Daria (Cartoon)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Gen, Introspection, Light Angst, like everything's implied, this is barely a shipfic, you know normal daria stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 19:45:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19235857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dalecooperscoffee/pseuds/nerdyscully
Summary: One night after Daria is home from her freshman year of college, her and Trent have a short conversation.





	you are the bearer of unconditional things

**Author's Note:**

> had these two on my mind and thought i'd write some of my thoughts down. not sure if anyone will read this, and i don't know if i love how it turned out. it's pretty short and doesn't have *too* much substance, but i suppose i had things i wanted to say. nevertheless, i hope anyone who reads this enjoys it, i *did* have a good time writing it.

Daria’s back hurt, even though it had been three days since she moved out of her dorm. Still, she hadn’t realized how much she had brought to Raft and how many boxes she had to haul to her car. She also hadn’t realized how fast freshman year was going to go. Summer stretched ahead of her, free of term papers and bland, overpriced campus food. She figured she would spend her summer the same way she did in high school—reading anything new the library had, staying up late with Jane, and occasionally making day trips to the beach after being prodded enough. She was fine with that, though she worried a little that she would end up feeling cooped up, restless, and irritable.

She was certainly feeling that way now. Her and Jane had planned a night of watching movies and eating junk food, but Jane had fallen asleep on her. When Daria had shook her friend awake, she had just yawned and walked up to her bedroom, promising that they’d do it the next day and Daria could sleep in Penny’s room. Daria had held back a snarky comment about Jane getting into her brother’s stash, but it had been hard. So she was stranded on the Lane’s couch at 10 at night, annoyed. She found something on TV to zone out to, and was so deep in thought she didn’t notice the dip in the couch as someone sat next to her. “Hey,” a gravelly voice said.

“Oh. Hi Trent,” she sat up, smoothing her frizzy hair. “What are you up to?”

“I came down here to get a beer, but I saw you sitting here all alone. Where’s Janey?”

“Fell asleep.”

“Huh. We’re more alike than I think sometimes. Do you want a beer or anything?”

“Um…can I just have a soda?” She felt very kiddish in the moment, even though she was nearing 20 and had drank before.

“Of course,” he said, making his way to the kitchen. It was nice to see Trent again, she thought—she hadn’t been great at keeping in touch with him throughout the year, except when she came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mostly she had heard what was going on with him (which wasn’t much) through Jane. Seeing him now, a pang of guilt hit her, and she felt selfish for not talking to him much. He was still her friend, after all, her closest friend after Jane.

Trent set a can of soda down on the coffee table for her, one in his own hand. “I thought you were gonna have a beer,” Daria said.

He shrugged. “I can go without a beer tonight. I wouldn’t want to fall asleep on you, like Jane.”

He winked, but they both knew one beer would be nothing to him. Hell, Daria was five foot two and one beer didn’t do much of anything to her, either. She thanked him for the soda quietly and cracked it open. “Penny for your thoughts,” Trent offered after a moment of silence. “Y’know, we used to say that to Penny all the time. It doesn’t really make sense, now that I think of it.”

“You should charge much more for people’s thoughts these days. At least a dollar.”

“I say five. Inflation and all,” Trent gave her a wry smile.

“Agreed,” she replied, taking a sip. “As for what I’m thinking about…I don’t know, everything I guess. Thinking about what to do this summer.”

“Got any plans?”

“No, that’s the thing. At least in Boston I could go into town and buy a book or something. There’s nothing to do in Lawndale. I don’t know how you stand it, Trent—no offense.”

“Hey, none taken,” he said, “I think I can only handle it because I’m not awake for most of it.”

She was struck by his honesty. “You really think you’ll ever get out of here?”

He stared off into the distance, and she wondered if he had zoned out for a moment until he said, “God…I don’t know. I really don’t. I mean…it’s not like anywhere else would want me,” he laughed, but she didn’t find it humorous at all.

“Don’t say that. You’re likable, and you _are_ talented,” a general feeling of uncomfort settled into her; though she truly meant everything she said, she didn’t usually compliment people so frankly. She didn’t want to wonder why that was and what it said about her—she figured she would just come out of it feeling worse.

“Thanks. I guess I know that. I don’t really know where else I’d go. And it’s nice knowing Janey has someone to come home to, at least while she’s in college.”

Daria nodded. “She appreciates it. I know she does.” _I do, too_ , she thought, but found no reason to say it. A beat passed before Trent said something that truly shocked her.

“I’m thinking of getting a job.”

She wondered if she was dreaming, and she simply looked at him with raised eyebrows for a few moments before she could reply with a simple “really?”.

“Crazy, right?” he chuckled. “I know, I’m such a sellout. But…” after a moment of hesitation, he admitted, “I’m all alone in this house. I figure I should find something to do, because—”

“You’re lonely?” Daria suggested after he trailed off again.

He smiled sadly. “You always know what I’m thinking. Yeah, I guess I am. I have the band, but—I do have to keep the lights on. I do have to buy food and stuff. I really don’t want Janey to come home to a house with no food or running water or lights…I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“You’re a good brother. You know that, right?”

He shrugged. “Nah. It’s nice of you to say that, though.”

“I think getting a job would be good. And it’s not selling out or anything, it’s just something necessary, right? Other musicians have had to work day jobs. They didn’t become ‘The Man’ just because they didn’t hit it big for a couple years.” She figured she could’ve been more blunt in her words; she could’ve told him that he needed to leave Mystik Spiral behind and find something else. Maybe that was on the brink of happening, though. She knew he was talented, and he had proved by what he had said earlier that he put Jane first. He wouldn’t admit it, but she knew he would become The Man™ if it meant keeping Jane provided for.

“You should write those advice columns. Like they have in the paper?”

She smirked. “I feel like they wouldn’t like my advice so much. I’d come off as a huge bitch.”

“That could be a part of your charm, your sarcasm. I bet people would like it more than you think. _I’d_ read it every week. You could count on that.”

She felt a blush creeping onto her face, something that hadn’t happened around him in a long time. “That’s nice of you to say, but I think I should finish college before I start dealing with other people’s inane problems.”

“Hey, you’ve dealt with mine tonight.”

“You’re a friend, and anyway, your problems aren’t inane.”

“It’s nice to hear you say that.”

Another blush. Goddamnit. “What, calling you a friend? You know you’re my friend, Trent.”

“I know. It’s just…we didn’t talk much, your last year of high school, and then you moved far away, so it’s nice to catch up, I guess.”

She looked at her feet. That was something she still thought about; how they rarely spoke during her senior year. “It was—well, you know how complicated it was.”

“I do. I’m not mad at you or anything. Just glad that we can sit and talk like this. I always like what you have to say.”

“You don’t have to compliment me so much,” she mumbled.

“I want to,” he stretched in his chair. “Not to ditch you, but I’m pretty tired.”

“I understand. I am, too.”

“I missed talking to you, though. I missed you, Daria,” he stood up and stretched again.

She gave him her Mona Lisa smile. “Me, too. We’ll have to make up for that lost time, I guess. Things were…a lot different back then, different than they are now.”

He walked over to her chair. “It’s funny. We say a lot of things, but it’s all sort of a cover up for what we mean, isn’t it?” He placed a kiss on her forehead. “G’night, Daria.”

Before she could process what had happened and what he had said, he had made his way downstairs.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for readin


End file.
